WASHINGTON – The White House has brushed aside a petition calling for designating Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism, but said Islamabad “can and must” take more effective action against terror groups operating from its soil.
“While recognising the sacrifices of the people and the security forces of Pakistan in fighting some militant and terrorist networks – a fight which we support – President (Barack) Obama has emphasised that Pakistan ‘can and must’ also take more effective action against terrorist groups operating from its soil,” a press release issued by the White House said Friday.
“The president has made it very clear that no state should allow its territory to be used by terrorists to launch attacks into another state, and we will continue to engage on this issue,” he said in response to the petition that was signed by a 665,769 people, mostly Indians.
The petition on the White House “We the People” platform asked the Obama administration to declare Pakistan as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, as desired by a bill introduced in the US House of Representatives by two Republican Congressmen Ted Poe and Dana Rohrabacher.
“Since the bill cited by the petition remains in draft, we will not comment on it here,” the White House press added.
Meanwhile, the State Department has also declined to comment on the bill.
“I am not going to get into a discussion about that. We routinely discuss with our Pakistani counterparts the importance for continued focus and energy on the counter-terrorism efforts and the terrorism threat, particularly along that spine between the two countries,” State Department Spokesman John Kirby said.
“Our focus on this and the focus that we want to see Pakistan expend on it, that is not going to change.”
The State Department, he added, has seen comments made by the incoming administration about its priority for counter-terrorism measures. “I have seen some comments that they have made about a counter-terrorism focus. That is for them to address.
“Nothing changes about our focus on the importance of regional, collaborative and effective counter-terrorism operations and to our interest in seeing all the countries in the region likewise expend a great deal of energy and effort and leadership on that. I just cannot speculate about the future and I would not do that,” Kirby added.
Meanwhile, at the daily State Department briefing, Spokesman Kirby, responding to a question from an Indian journalist, said India is and will remain a key partner of United States, while stressing that Washington was going to remain completely focused on improving and strengthening the bilateral ties during the remainder of the Obama administration.
“We greatly value and respect the relationship we have with India today and the one that we have worked very, very hard at improving and strengthening,” Spokesperson John Kirby said. “We are going to stay completely focused on that for the remainder of this Obama administration,” Kirby said on Friday as he welcomed new Indian Ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna.
“We welcome the new ambassador and we look forward to working closely with him as he settles into his new duties, but I can tell you that nothing is going to change for the remainder of Secretary of State (John) Kerry’s tenure about the very keen focus that we are going to continue to place on our bilateral relationship with India.
“What happens after the inauguration of our new president is really for the new administration to speak to,” he said.
Kirby said there is no question that India remains and will remain a key partner in that part of the world and that strong bilateral relations will need to continue. “But what it looks like, the form and content and shape, I could not possibly predict what that is,” he added.http://nation.com.pk/national/20-Nov-2016/us-sidesteps-petition-seeking-to-declare-pakistan-terror-sponsor
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